Blog: The Welsh Parliament’s Equality & Social Justice Committee report on women’s experiences in the CJS

Last week, the Welsh Parliament’s Equality and Social Justice Committee published the report from their inquiry into ‘Women’s experiences in the criminal justice system’. The report found that the criminal justice system fails to meet the needs of Welsh women and concluded that these women need more support to stay out of prison. 

PRT gave both written and oral evidence to the inquiry. We highlighted: 

• The need to move away from the continued use of short prison sentences, and instead build a sustainable network of community provision across the whole of Wales. 

• Our concerns about the planned Residential Women’s Centre, and the need for greater clarity on its use. 
• That the absolute priority of the future of the custodial estate in England and Wales should be to plan for fewer women in custody, and not for a women’s prison in Wales. 

The committee agreed with and echoed many of the points in our submissions. In particular, we were pleased to see the committee emphasise the need to reduce the use of short prison sentences and increase uptake of community alternatives. 

The committee was shocked to find the persisting use of short prison sentences for women, and that sentences as short as a week were seen as normal. These short sentences can be particularly problematic, and ‘counter-productive’. They are long enough to cause massive disruption to women’s lives, but don’t provide any opportunity for meaningful interventions to support rehabilitation. Often women are left in a worse position and fall back into the cycle of offending. 

We were also pleased to see the committee highlight the importance of early intervention and coordination of local services. The report calls for more consistent sustainable provision of support services and community alternatives for women. This would include a ‘suite of community sentencing options for non-violent offences’ and extending the Women’s Pathfinder Whole System Approach to all police force areas in Wales. The committee also echoed the need for greater clarity on the use of Residential Women’s Centres. 

The report provides clear recommendations for change throughout and should accelerate the work already being done by the Women’s Justice Blueprint. But it’s now up to the Welsh government to implement these recommendations, and build on the progress already made for Welsh women in contact with the criminal justice system. 

Emily Evison
Policy Officer